River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1887-07-14
SIIERIDAN'S RIDE.

paratively small number have been put
in print.
Splendid acts Of Individual heroi>n
on the part Of the men who carried tn,
muskets remain untold. except as they
are related at the iireside or in the cir
Gle of comrades
And ONE Of the few great dramatic
incidents # the war. which have touch
Cd the hearts and kindIed the imagina,
ton Of the people. need very badly t.
be correctly told.
II Is quite amusing Ia find how little
basis Of fact there is in most of estart-
lin. dramatic scenes that crowd the
the pages Of history
Thus. history, painting. poetry aud
even music. have portrayed Napoleon
crossing the Alps ON fiery charger,
his great cloak flying abroad in the
wind. and his hand pointing to the fair
plains of Italy. The sober truth seems
To be that he rode over ON a mule. and
was careful 10 yet of and foo: il at the
bad places.
Much has been written about the
Duke of Wellington drawing his sword
and shouting. up. guards. and at
themr on the repul>e Of the Old Guard.
at Waterloo His own account of the
matter wa, that he never gave such an
order, and never drew his sword; but
that ne did say. LET the whole line
advance
Aud then tina, charming story Of
William Tell shooting the apple OF his
sons head and then killing the tyrant
Gesler. We are told by the later histor-
ians that the whole thing was the play
wright's creation. and that there never
was such character in history a.
William Tell,
Probably the one incident in the
whole war that WIS the most dramatic,
and that aroused the greater popular
enthusiasm. was that which has come
10 br known a. Sheridau's ride. His
tory. poetry. ami painting have dealt
with it. and still the real truth about it
l. moi widely understood. Not only *
II not well understood, but some cyuic-
al duubters have delighted to have
their little fling At the hero of that cpl
Sode- We have been seriously told
that the Ride" was nothing more than
one Of Thom5 Buchanan Reads poet
zeal flights. that the presence of SHEER
idan on the field in the afternoon did
not very much affect the splendid re-
suit Of the day that victory would
have been -natched from defeat with
out im-and other surprising things
Of the same kind.
The writer of this sketch Is one of
those who shared the fortunes of the
beaten Union army i'm the forenoon Of
October / .. 1864. ut Cedar Greek; who
was present and witnessed the arrival
If Sheridan about noon: and hUmbly
participated. 1t the head Of what waS
lef' Of his company. in the glorious
work Of the afternoon And he i hap
pv to testify that. while the poetical ac-
count # the Ride l. naturally over
drawn. and the popular i,lea of It is an
exaggerated and erroneous one. still IT
was a great achievement, a wonderful
event: and that nothing but the genius
Of Philip Henry Sheridan. and his faith
that his army had not been f. riy whip
ped. end had any amount of fight Yet
I'm It. carried Us ON To- victory I'm the af-
ternOOn.
I believe that not only the people.
not only the great mass of surviving
veterans. hut actually many who We're
upon that field, are not correctly in
formed a. To how Sheridan happened
To- be- absent in the morning, and how
he came to be present in the afternoon.
Nobody can begin To understand
how thrilling. how pruvideutial. the cpl
-ude was without understanding these
things - let me try To make them
better understood.
The Confederate army IN the Shenan-
doah Valley had been badly beaten ut
Winchester. September 10; again ut
Fishers Hill. September -: and had
had been pursued away up into the
upper valley. to Harri ,on Here.
finding his communications uncertain.
AMI that hiS army could not be suppl
Ell from Harpcr's Ferry. hundred
miles To the rear. with the forays of
Mu>by guerrillas to contend against,
he decided To fall back nearer his base.
On October 10 his army was in the po-
>iIruu at Cox Creek. north of StraS-
bury, which iaoccupied ON the morniu :
If the great h;ittle: the Eighth Corps
ON the left. the Nineteenth in it, Tear.
to the right; thu sixth still further e
the right AMI rear. and the cavalry faI
ON the right.
General Early had been re-enforcc,
hv both KcrShaw and I.ougStreet. and
hi numbers almost cgualed those oi
our army. He began tO take the often
>ive. and some small encounters oc
cdrred The SIXTH Corps had beer
started on their way back to the Army
II the Potomac. but Sheridan becam,
ALlltst~N tA AEtt ~ANuAtltAt- anu hltAtAtt
their recall His messenger overtool
them near AShby'S Gap IF the Blu,
Ridge. and on the lfth they were bacl
with the army
In the meantime a grave discussion
and difference had arisen between
General Grant. Secretary Stanton. an,
General Sheridan bv letter and tele
graph. Grant thought that Sheridan
might make an advance through tn
upper gaps Of the Blue Ridge. towar
GOr,lOnSviIle or Charlottsvill ;; the Sec
retary Of War thought that the Tailroa
from Alexandria to Manassas Ga
might BE- repaired and kept open. an
that sheridan. supplied in that way
might hoId his pO~ition in the Uppe
VALLEY Sheridan simply knew better
He had carefully surveyed the ground
The disastrous experience of Geners
Hunter. who advanced with an arm
far up the valley. the previous spring
and through the gaps in the mountain
to LynchbuTg and thenwas compelled
with an his communications cut of
and Confederate army in his rear. I
retreat through the kanawha VALLEY
BY the Ohio River. and the BaltimoI
and Ohio Railroad. in the meantinl
allowing Washington TO be almo
captured.